Tuesday, December 13, 2016

These 12 Mysteries of Nature Prove that Earth Isn’t Done Surprising Us

St. Elmo’s Fire

Tower spires and mast tops are sometimes lit by ghostly fires, usually during a storm.

Medieval Europeans believed these dancing lights to be the promised
gift of St. Elmo, the patron saint of sailors: legend has it he promised
to pray for them and give warnings in the form of lights on masts.

An Antarctic volcano and its snow pipes

Mount Erebus is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in the
Antarctic. It’s covered with snow pipes made from frozen steam that
comes out of fissures.

Light pillars

This beautiful optical phenomenon appears
when light from the sun, the moon, or cities reflects from tiny ice
particles in the air.

Snow "spaghetti" in one of Finland’s lakes

A man from Hämeenlinna, Finland, discovered snow threads that looked
like noodles on the lake near his house. He later learned that he could
take these threads and make snowballs.

The threads may have been shaped by movements of wind and water before the fallen snow melted.

A dancing forest

There is a forest in Russia where trees are strangely bent, and
scientists haven’t yet come to a conclusion about this phenomenon. Some
think the reason is parasites, while others blame strong sea winds.
Old-timers think this place is haunted.

Sprites

Some thought these red or blue flashes that appear at great heights
were alien spaceships. Only after the phenomenon was caught on camera
in 1989 was it proved that the sprites are "distant relatives"
of lightning.

"Red tide"

Red tide is caused by enormous amounts of tiny red algae near the water’s surface, a phenomenon similar to water blooming.

Red tides are dangerous to sea dwellers because the oxygen content
in the water decreases, while hydrogen sulfide and ammonia increase.
A number of scientists connect the red tide with the first plagues
of Egypt, where the waters of the Nile turned to blood, killing the
fish.

Brocken spectre

If you’re in the mountains and look away from the sun, you can
sometimes see the shadow of a giant surrounded by a rainbow halo. This
is actually the shadow of the watcher himself cast on the mist. Small
drops fracture the light, which then form the halo around the shadow.

This phenomenon is most frequent on Brocken, a mountain in Germany.
It was once thought to be the doing of witches on Walpurgis Night.

Naga fireballs

The Mekong River in Thailand sometimes erupts with crimson fireballs
that rise 30-50 feet above the water and disappear. They usually appear
in October, and there’s even a festival dedicated to this phenomenon.
Scientists explain it as inflammation of gases rising from the river;
locals believe the balls to be sent by Naga, a half-snake, half-human
living in the river.

Valley of falling birds

In Jatinga Valley, India, birds have behaved very unusually for
centuries: they circle very low, and some even fall to the ground
semi-conscious.

Birds usually find their way by the sun and the magnetic field of the
Earth. The reason for their strange behavior must be in geophysical
anomalies.

The Baltic Sea anomaly

A strange object was found on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, looking
like a UFO. Scientists haven’t yet come to a consensus about its
origins. It’s made of basalt, so it is not a spaceship. Theories are
that it’s a result of glacier meltdown or a secret Nazi military
facility from WWII.

Ice circles on rivers

Perfectly round and slowly turning circles of ice are formed by eddy
flows in rivers. A piece of ice begins to turn, grinding down its
corners on the surrounding ice and becoming a perfect circle. The
phenomenon has been reported in Scandinavia, North America, Germany,
England, and Russia.